2016 has been a brutal year in many respects. Brexit happened in the UK, President-elect Trump was elected in America and we lost many great thinkers and celebrities. In England, 2016 has also been a year of a number of significant homicides and intriguing murder trials. From serial killers utilising social media to get people at their most vulnerable to bizarre freak attacks, lets look back at some of the most prolific UK murders of 2016 …

The Twilight Murderers

Elizabeth Edwards, 49 and her 14-year-old daughter Katie were murdered as they slept by a deranged teenage couple. The killers, who were both 14 at the time, were lovers who fantasised about taking another persons life. They targeted the mother and child, stabbing them in their beds and then celebrated afterwards. The pair seem to have taken great pride in their grisly crime as after the murder they ate ice cream and tea cakes whilst watching twilight. They have then claimed to have had sex.

Elizabeth and Katie Edwards, who were violently killed whilst they slept.

The teen killers, who cannot be named, have become some of the youngest double murderers in UK criminal history. Despite the female killer of the duo pleading insanity, both of the pair were sentenced to 20 years in prison each. Her male counterpart, has since been put in a maximum security prison due to his violent behaviour. He is currently spending 23 hours a day locked in isolation in solitary confinement. Both of the pair show no remorse for their actions and would clearly be even more dangerous to the public as they mature into adults.

The Grindr Predator

This case reads a bit like something a Republican would dream up to deter young men from homosexual relations. However, this was one of the most significant serial killer cases that England has seen for decades. What is astounding about this case, is that the perpetrator was able to go undetected for 14 months in London – long enough to take the lives of at least 4 victims. Stephen Port, 40, was able to make contact with victims using the gay hookup app Grindr. He then arranged to meet up with the men at his home, on the promise of sex, where he drugged them with GHB (a common date rape drug).

Stephen Port; Grindr Killer

In actions which mimicked those of other serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer, Port mutilated and assaulted the drugged bodies of the men. He then dumped their corpses in churchyards across London. Stephen Port was able to get away with these four murders for over a year, despite the crude and inexperienced fashion in which the murders were carried out. In addition to this, the mother of Port’s first victim claims that she had warned police at least twelve times that she suspected Stephen Port of murder. This is due to Port acting suspiciously when claiming that he allegedly found the body of Anthony Walgate – 23, after they had met on an online dating website. The parents of the victims largely blame the policeforce for not investigating the suspects in this case more thoroughly, and allowing 3 more victims to lose their lives.

The Millionaire Murderer

An unlikely entrant to this article, 54-year-old Peter Morgan of Monmouthshire, Wales seemed to have everything he could want in life. He was a millionaire living in absolute luxury. However, the woman that he now claims to have loved was in fact his £10,000 per month personal escort. Peter, who is worth an estimated £20 million, claims to have started seeing prostitutes as part of a mid life crisis. He never intended to see each prostitute more than once, until he became fixated with Georgina Symonds.

He found out that Georgina intended to break off their arrangement and became enraged. He also now claims that he believed she may have intended to share indecent images of him online and in order to prevent his family finding out about the affair, he strangled her to death.

Peter Morgan; Millionaire murderer responsible for killing his lover

Georgina Symonds was reported missing when she failed to collect her child from school later that day. Her mobile phone was traced to a Porsche in Morgan’s garage. When interviewed by police he admitted that he had killed her and didn’t know why he had done it. He handed over keys to a farm workshop to officers and told them: “You will need those keys – she’s locked in the outhouse.” Her body was found there wrapped in plastic.

Although Peter Morgan has mild Asperger’s syndrome, the murder was clearly calculated and involved some degree of planning. It is believed that he will be held fully accountable for his actions and he is due to be sentenced in 2017.